CodeWarriors Game Jam (GGJ Next) | Summer 2025–26

🏆 CodeWarriors Team Wins International Games for Change Award

We're very excited to share that Team Dot, a CodeWarriors student team from Sydney's Hills District, has been announced as winner of the Junior "All In For Nature: Reefs & Rainforests" category in the 2026 Games for Change Student Challenge.

Young Hills District developers Jake, Larry and Yug formed Team Dot during our Summer 2025–26 Game Jam and spent an intense three days designing, building and refining their game, Save Our Great Barrier Reef.

Their game begins by educating players about some of the factors contributing to damage to Australia's Great Barrier Reef before challenging players to undertake an ocean clean-up mission. The team worked incredibly hard throughout the event, making improvements, additions and bug fixes right up to the three-day game jam deadline.

The Games for Change Student Challenge is a global competition that this year attracted more than 1,280 game submissions from student teams across 53 countries. Teams are challenged to design and build a complete, playable game around a specified social or environmental theme within a highly time-constrained game jam format.

This year's challenge themes were:

• Outplay Hunger
• All in for Nature: Reefs & Rainforests
• Own the Road

Team Dot's game was selected as the winning entry in the Junior Developers category for the Reefs & Rainforests theme. This is a tremendous achievement and a well-deserved recognition of the team's creativity, teamwork and persistence. Anyone who watched the team during the event knows just how hard they worked, making improvements and bug fixes right up to the final minutes of the time limit.

This was also the first time CodeWarriors students had participated in the Games for Change Student Challenge, making the result even more remarkable.

Team Dot was not the only successful CodeWarriors team in the competition. All three teams from our Summer Game Jam completed playable games and submitted entries to the challenge. Delta Team from the Blue Mountains also achieved an outstanding result, reaching the finals with their game Follow the Maze in the "Own the Road" theme.

For all three teams, this was their first game jam and their first experience developing a game for international competition. Completing and submitting a game within just three days was an impressive achievement in itself.

On behalf of the instructors and mentors at CodeWarriors, congratulations to Team Dot on this extraordinary result, and congratulations to all participating students for their creativity, teamwork and determination throughout the challenge.

We would also like to thank the families who supported the students throughout the event and helped make these achievements possible.

To view all games entered in the 2026 Games for Change Student Challenge, including the CodeWarriors entries, visit: learn.gamesforchange.org/student-arcade

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The CodeWarriors GGJ Next Summer 2025–26 Game Jam has ended now.
Check our Game Jams pages for upcoming Game Jams.

This is a fully-remote Game Jam for CodeWarriors students and mentors, aligned with the Global Game Jam Next (GGJ Next) youth program.

Over three afternoons, students work in very small teams to design and build a game together — supported by CodeWarrior leads in a relaxed, studio-style environment.

This Game Jam is running as a online pilot for CodeWarriors. Group sizes are intentionally small, the structure is flexible, and the focus is on learning, collaboration, and experimentation rather than polished outcomes.

Who this Game Jam is for

This Game Jam is open to:

• current CodeWarriors campers and recent alumni
• students aged ~10+ (Year 5 and above)
• confident coders who are comfortable working independently
• students happy to collaborate in very small teams (1–3 people)

This program is not designed as a first-ever coding experience.

What makes this week different

Unlike beginner camps, this week focuses on collaboration and application. Students work in small teams, receive mentor guidance (not step-by-step instruction), and experience how real game teams plan, build, and finish a project together.

Students will:

• work in small teams to design and build a complete game
• apply coding, design, and planning skills in a real project
• experience how games are built collaboratively in the real world

Because this is fully remote, leads will guide and support teams rather than follow a fixed, step-by-step curriculum.

What is GGJ Next?

GGJ Next is the youth program of the Global Game Jam — a worldwide event where teams design and build games around a shared theme, alongside students from around the world.

Learn more

How the Game Jam works (at a glance)

• Dates: Wednesday–Friday, Jan 28–30
• Time: 12:00pm – 4:00pm each day
• Format: Fully remote, hosted on Zoom
• Teams: Small teams of 1–3 students
• Cost: Free for eligible CodeWarriors students
• Eligibility: CodeWarriors campers and mentors only

Each afternoon includes:

• a short whole-group check-in
• team work time in Zoom breakout rooms
• optional mentor drop-ins for guidance and support

Students may work solo or in small teams. Collaboration is encouraged, but not forced.

Register your interest

Further details (for families who’d like to know more)

Team formation & leadership

Students work in very small teams of 1–3 people, with solo projects fully supported as part of this game jam.

Teams are formed with care, taking into account:

• age and experience level
• interests and strengths
• positive collaboration and inclusion

No student is expected to “find a team” on their own.

Team leaders

Each team will have a team leader, identified during the team setup session.

The team leader’s role is to:

• help coordinate ideas and tasks
• act as the main point of contact with mentors
• support steady progress during the week

Being a team leader is not about being the strongest coder — mentors support students in this role.

Participation options

Participation

This pilot Game Jam is offered as a single, remote-only format.

Participation is:

• optional
• free of charge
• limited to CodeWarriors students and mentors

Places are limited to keep teams small and mentoring manageable.

Remote format & tools

All sessions are run on Zoom, using supervised breakout rooms for each team.

• Leads can move between teams to offer support
• No public chat platforms are used
• Tools and links will be shared with families ahead of the first session

Participation permissions & submissions

Participation in GGJ Next submission is optional.

• All students take part fully in the camp and game-development activities
• With parental permission, a team’s game may be submitted publicly to GGJ Next (first names only)
• If permission is not given, the game is simply not submitted

This does not affect a student’s camp experience.

Why we’re running this

This week reflects one of our most important CodeWarriors goals — helping students move from learning how to code, to using code creatively with others.

It’s a supportive step toward real-world game development, teamwork, and confidence-building, while still being fun, safe, and age-appropriate.

Beyond technical skills, we’re also inspired by the idea that games can be a powerful way for young people to explore ideas, stories, and empathy. This aligns with the ethos of organisations like Games for Change, which promote game development as a tool for creativity, understanding, and positive impact.

This pilot will help us learn how to support collaborative, advanced programs within CodeWarriors in future camps and term-based offerings.

Ready to take the next step?

[STATUS] Our Summer 2025–26 Game Jam is now finished.
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Have questions? Feel free to contact us before signing up.